Snow and rain reappeared in California on Sunday, the first day of March, after the driest February on record for much of the state and Yolo County

Downtown Sacramento and downtown San Francisco each recorded not a drop of rain for the month, according to the National Weather Service.

“Pretty remarkable. We’ve never had a dry February on record,” NWS meteorologist Cory Mueller said about the state capital. Records go back to 1878, he said.

It was the first rain-free February in San Francisco since 1864, the weather service in the Bay Area said in a tweet Sunday morning.

An hour later another tweet reported light rain starting in North Bay mountains, as part of a system that dumped several inches of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

While there was rain in Woodland and Yolo County on Sunday, it amounted to less than a trace and wasn’t recorded.

However, representatives with the UC Cooperative Extension Service in Woodland confirmed what many already knew: No rain at all in February, making it the driest on record. The last time it was this dry was in February 1964, when .03 inches was recorded.

For the season, which began on July 1, 2019, it has rained only 9.79 inches. That compares to 23.86 inches for the same period last year. The 10-year season average for Woodland is 15.04 inches.

The dry beginning of the year has state officials bracing for the possibility of an early and more intense wildfire season.

Drought has expanded from just under 10% of the state in mid-February to nearly a quarter, mainly in central California, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor map made public last week. The map shows another 43% of the state is now abnormally dry.

The lack of rain this year comes after a wet 2019 that capped mountains with snow, delivering water to reservoirs and helping to boost lush vegetation that can quickly turn into fuel for wildfires during dry, windy conditions.

About 75% of California’s annual precipitation typically occurs from December through February.